Verdelho

  • Aromas and Flavors: tart and lemony, crisp, tropical fruit
  • AKA:  Verdello, planted in Italy’s Umbria region, may well be the same variety
  • There is also a purple variety, Verdelho Tinto (called Gouvieo in the Douro Valley)
  • High in acidity
  • Varies from herbaceous, when grown in cooler vineyards or picked earlier, to tropical fruit, when grown in warmer vineyards or picked fully mature
  • Used to make both dry table wines and sweet, fortified wines
  • Barrel fermentation and oak aging can add richness and complexity
  • Over-ripening may produce high alcohol and too much extraction or maceration can make the wine coarse
  • The Verdelho variety has been cultivated in Portugal since at least the 1400s
  • It is one of the grapes used in the making of Madeira
  • Since the late nineteenth century European outbreak of Phyloxera, there are very few Verdelho vines planted in Portugal
  • Western Australia, and South Australia and New South Wales have had success with Verdelho as a dry table wine